Design Principles Final Compilation
Design Principles Task 1 - Exploration
17.03.2025 - 19.03.2025 Week 7Jolin Ceria (0363784)Design Principles GCD60804Bachelor of Design (Honors) in Creative Media
Table of Contents
Instructions
Task 1 (Link here)
Fig 1.1 Departure of the Winged Ship
Information
Title: Departure of the Winged Ship
Year: 2000
Artist: Vladimir Kush
Size: 80” x 100”
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Online Source: Here
Principles
The first element I noticed being used in this painting is the emphasis principle, specifically in size and use of values, as the butterflies are scaled to a much larger size to grab a viewer's attention and so the butterfly wings would work better as a substitute for normal sails, and the humanoid figures and the rocks nearing the foreground being painted black to create depth using shadows. Besides that, I also noticed that the ship itself and the butterflies are painted with predominantly warm colors, as opposed to the blue sky and sea, which creates contrast.
I find that this painting also has a good use of the movement principle, as the clouds are painted and shaped like the wind pushing the ship in one direction, and the butterfly nets are painted in a way that makes them look like they're flowing opposite from the wind. The amount of butterflies placed on the ship could account for repetition, as one butterfly as a sail may not be able to move the ship by itself, many butterflies can work together to move the ship. In a way, this could also be interpreted as creating some sort of harmony.
Reasoning
While searching around for artwork, I came across this painting. It was beautiful, but what piqued my interest in it was despite being attributed as one of Salvador Dali's works called "Butterfly Sails" in 1937, I was very skeptical because many elements in this work I felt did not match up to Dali's works during his surrealism period in 1929-1940. These were the things I noticed:
- The amount of detailing specifically in the sky and water does not match up with the way he would normally paint them during this time
- The lack of distorted/warped images, objects and shapes commonly seen in his works during this time
- Although this is a stretch, I found that many of his works also feature a brownish-yellow color, or the color scheme of this artwork just did not match the general color palettes he used. This could honestly be attributed to aging, but I noticed that a lot of his artwork had a sandy yellow flat floor.
- Composition overall seemed somewhat tame in comparison to his other works. Despite there being somewhat surrealistic elements like the butterflies being used as sails, I feel that it wasn't as disturbing as I would've expected from his other work.
Task 2 (Link here)
Observation
The painting depicts a ship heading out to sea, with the ship having huge butterflies in place of its sails, along with several other butterflies flying about. There are several humanoid figures standing atop the rocky ground, painted with the color black as if they are shadows. Three of them are holding butterfly nets, and one of them is crouching, facing the water. In the sky, there are clouds sweeping to the west.
Analysis
The ship's hull being painted brown, along with the butterflies mainly being painted with warmer colors such as yellow, orange, brown and red, giving the piece some contrast against the predominantly blue background. It should be noted that none of the butterflies have wings that are predominantly cooler colors, besides some usage of green, black, and one of the butterflies having an off-white color that almost looks blue. The ship's bow is facing away from the foreground, seemingly away from the humanoid figures on the rocky land. The bigger clouds are painted in such a way that creates the illusion of the wind blowing the ship's "sails", making it seem like there is movement. The butterfly nets that the humanoid figures are holding are painted in very vibrant colors and visibly flowing in the wind, which also makes it stand out against the background and from the figures holding them, making them another example of the presence of contrast and movement.
With the exaggerated size of the butterflies to better fit as substitutes for the ship's sails and the placement, this piece also has an obvious example of emphasis, along with there being many butterflies being an example of repetition. There is also a more subtle example of emphasis with the composition of the piece itself, seen in the humanoid figures having dark colors and their placement being close to the foreground, emphasizing how the distance between the humanoid figures and the ship. Every aspect of the piece, from the clouds, to how the ship moves, to the butterfly nets and the butterflies, go together to create harmony.
Interpretation
Butterflies are a symbol of freedom, but they are also a symbol of hope and transformation and a representation of growth. Ships are also seen as a symbol of freedom and can represent journeys. It can represent one's decision to set out on a journey, whether literal or metaphorical, and how the ship is facing away from the viewer can represent one's decision of leaving things that were previously in their life behind while taking the next step in life. The butterflies clinging onto the ship are a way to show that these decisions are made based on one's own free will and without any external influence on their journey to achieve said goals. The clouds represent the wind that blows the ship, and as wind is needed to properly utilize a ship through it's sails, the clouds are the physical manifestation of the push, the strength, the encouragement to move forward.
The humanoid figures holding the butterfly nets can be interpreted in different ways. Butterfly nets symbolize the will to achieve goals, and the humanoid figures can be seen as separately trying to achieve their own freedom through catching the butterflies. One could take a more sinister approach and see the butterfly nets as a symbol for restraint, and interpreting the humanoid figures trying to catch the butterflies as an attempt to strip one of their own freedom and agency and to restrain them.
Task 3 (Link here)
Rationale
The initial artwork I used was quite tranquil, with calmer seas and wind. However, my interpretation was that this painting symbolizes the start of someone's journey in order to achieve their freedom and to leave things previously in their lives behind while taking that next step. And as such I wanted to take a different approach to interpret this painting, and with that, I decided to make the environment of the painting harsher to give a different feeling.
Making the sky darker and grayer gives the impression of a stormy sky, befitting my interpretation of struggling to achieve freedom, along with the wind shaped clouds making the stormy weather more convincing. The harsh ocean waves convey the struggles and obstacles that come along the way of reaching for said freedom.
As for the composition, I utilized the golden ratio for the shape of the clouds and sea waves, along with the placements of the elements of the artwork to hopefully make something visually interesting. I also decided to move the figures close to the camera, as if seeing the ship from their perspective. This makes it seem like the ship was departing from their perspective, as if they were sending the ship off, thus the title of the artwork.
And as for the butterflies, I tried to make them resemble the ones in the original artwork with my own changes, and added a new red one because I noticed there weren't any red butterflies.
PDF Compilation (Link here)
Reflection
What have I learned?
I learned to differentiate observing and analysing, as I used to mesh both of those together. I have always done both things interchangably and being forced to do those things separately definitely helped. I also learned that you can't take how people credit art at face value, there's a chance that this artwork would have been crediting the wrong person (Like in the case of Vladimir Kush's work here). Another thing that I need to work on is the fact that I can't just focus on working on one detail at a time, and instead I should focus on showing the full picture to make thinks consistent (This was why we were taught colorblocking man...).
What did I enjoy the most?
I enjoyed majority of the painting process while I wasn't strapped for time, which was surprising considering I had just been coming out of a major period of art block. It was fun, considering digital painting is something that I don't really think I have tried? I have only done small, acrylic paintings in the past, and those were very few and far in-between, although became less so once I realised the deadline was approaching and I needed to work quickly and possibly cut out some things to speed the process up.
What did I enjoy the least?
It was trying to find a way to remove my own analyses from my own observation, and the fact that I spent a lot of nights with zero sleep trying to finish my work and redoing some elements that I wasn't entirely satisfied with. I think it was evident in the last lecture I attended, I replayed it and I sounded so tired because I hadn't slept for the past 20 hours or so.
What changed, or what didn't change, throughout my learning journey?
I haven't noticed any changes so far, seven weeks is not enough time for me to evaluate myself to the point where I would see and be able to determine them. What hasn't changed was my extremely sporadic working style and my (Less than optimal) time management, as I would cycle through spending a very large chunk of my day trying to work and the next day I would do nothing because I would be trying to catch up to my sleep debts and failing.
What are my aspirations?
I'm honestly not sure. Right now there are a lot of things in my mind (Particularly my partner, family, friends, etc.) and I haven't been able to really sit down and think about it. In terms of the near future, though, as I'm currently on academic probation, I plan to speak to Ms. Anis very soon about what I want to do moving forward.
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